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Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 4:2

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John Gill - Exposition

John Gill

INTRODUCTION TO Ecclesiastes 4 In this chapter the wise man reassumes the consideration of the case of the abuse of power, to show that there is no happiness in this world, in grandeur and authority enjoyed; since, as he had observed before, on the one hand, the oppressor shall be judged and condemned at the great day of account; so, on the other hand, the oppressed have their lives made so...

John Gill - Exposition

John Gill

Wherefore I praised the dead, which are already dead,.... Truly and properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to live, and are dead; nor in a civil sense, such as are in calamity and distress, as the Jews in captivity, or in any affliction, which is sometimes called death: but such who are dead in a literal...

Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary

Matthew Henry

Solomon, having shown the vanity of this world in the temptation which those in power feel to oppress and trample upon their subjects, here further shows, I. The temptation which the oppressed feel to discontent and impatience, ver. 1-3. II. The temptation which those that love their case feel to take their case and neglect business, for fear of being envied, ver. 4-6. III. The folly of hoarding...